A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to portable structures of the type used to construct temporary barricades. More particularly, the invention relates to a portable inflatable article made of a flexible material which may be inflated with water from a flattened state to form an elongated, modular, double beam-like member useful in constructing dikes for flood control purposes, and similar temporary structures.
B. Field of the Invention
It is sometimes necessary or desirable to rapidly construct a temporary barricade such as a wall, revetment, dike, levee or the like. To satisfy this requirement, bags filled with sand or dirt have long been used to construct dikes or similar structures, to hold back water from a swollen stream or river and thereby preventing damage to agricultural lands or buildings, for example.
Bags used for constructing barricades as described above are referred to as "sand bags," and may be filled with dirt or sand found near the location at which it is desired to construct a wall. Considerable labor and time are required to fill and close the bags. Also, it is sometimes inconvenient to obtain filling material at the construction site. This is particularly true in times of spring floods, when the ground may still be frozen. In this case, fill material must be transported from a remote source to the construction site, along with the bags. While the bags, which are typically made of heavy coarse fabric material such as canvas, are relatively light and easy to transport, the fill material is quite heavy. Therefore, when fill material must be transported to a temporary construction site along with the empty bags to be filled, the logistics required to rapidly construct a revetment wall, dike or other such emergency barrier are substantially complicated.
A variety of articles have been proposed for use in replacing the sand bags traditionally used to rapidly erect barricade revetments for flood control and the like. For example, the following United States patents disclose methods and articles for construction of revetment structures:
Crandall, U.S. Pat. No. 3,374,635, Mar. 26, 1968, Bags For Use in Revetment Structures
Lamberton, U.S. Pat. No. 3,425,228, Feb. 4, 1969, Fabric Forms For Concrete Structures
Colle, U.S. Pat. No. 3,474,626, Oct. 28, 1969, Method And Means For Protecting Beaches
Labora, U.S. Pat. No. 3,886,751, June 3, 1975, Aquatic Construction Module And Method Of Forming Thereof
Hepworth, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,957,098, May 18, 1976, Erosion Control Bag Colle, U.S. Pat. No. 4,184,788, Jan. 22, 1980, Form For Erosion Control Structures
Wagner, U.S. Pat. No. 4,362,433, Dec. 7, 1982, Flood Disaster Control Bag
Scales, U.S. Pat. No. 4,449,847, May 22, 1984, Revetment Panel;
Larsen, U.S. Pat. No. 4,541,751, Sept. 17, 1985, Method Of Producing And Laying a Barrier Structure.
The Labora and Wagner patents listed above typify the structural and functional characteristics of prior art devices intended for use as a replacement for the traditional sand bag. Those two patents disclose interlockable, inflatable bags which may be used as forms to construct temporary structures such as flood control revetments. In Labora, a bag-like form has protuberances combined with inlet and outlet port tubes which interlock within indentations in adjacent bags. The modular forms disclosed in Labora are adapted to construction of relatively thin walls having parallel vertical surfaces.
The flood disaster control bag disclosed in Wagner uses a matrix of dimples and bulges on the surface of the form to form a hermaphroditic interlockable surface.
The present invention was conceived of to provide an improved water inflatable structural module of low cost and substantial versatility.